Getting more 'gay-supportive' with time

By
Aaron Morrissey

You might think that it'd take a little longer than a month and a half, give or take, to change your level of "gay-supportiveness." (It just doesn't seem like one of those wishy-washy things you can flip-flop on.) But apparently that's not the case -- as long as you can prove that you've got the record.

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., recently released the results of an evaluation which measures how supportive the politicians involved in November's general election are to LGBT issues. If you'll recall, the organization also produced a similar evaluation for the candidates involved in the September primary. Most of the candidates have the same scores in both surveys. Vince Gray still stands at +8.5 (the scores are based on a scale of -10 to +10, with more supportive candidates in the positive). Kwame Brown (+5.5), Phil Mendelson (+10), Jim Graham (+10), Harry Thomas, Jr. (+6) and Tommy Wells (+8.5) are all at the same levels that they were back in August. As far as new candidates go, there's really not much there, unless you consider David Catania (who is gay) and his perfect score a surprise.

But there were some changes. Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh picked up an extra point, moving from +7.5 to +8.5. (I guess that she felt the need to show a little more support since she now has an opponent, as opposed to the primary, where she ran unopposed.) But the most interesting case is Marc Morgan, the Republican candidate for Ward 1's Council seat. Morgan scored a +3 in August's survey. But in this time around, he more than doubled his "supportiveness" rating to +6.5.

As an independent and supporter of the gay community, I still don't trust the republicans. They voted lock step - goose step to not end DADT, despite the top brass support and the 75-80 of the population that values gay troops being willing to defend a country that in some ways treats them like trash.

Before any repub gets my vote, the party has to come out from the top down with ending DOMA, DADT, and supporting at least full legal equality for gay people, including civil unions. And yes I realize that CUs are a "second class citizenship" since Marriage is a universally recognized term for legal rights and benefits to couples , as well as a mark of respect.

Come on repubs - the dems are struggling witth the issue. And so many people like me are ex repubs.